Barclays is going to stay issuing Visa payWave cards to all its debit cardholders. Starting in March, most Barclays debit cards that are issued or reissued will have contactless technology. More than three million customers are expected to be using contactless debit cards by the end of the year.

The new cards will enable transactions of $14 or less to be paid for by holding the card up to a special reader, without having to enter a PIN or insert the card into a terminal. The transaction is debited directly from the customer’s account in the same way that a standard debit card transaction is performed. The cards will still have chip and PIN which will be used for purchases and for ATM transactions but the card will randomly prompt for the PIN to be entered to verify the customer’s identity during purchases as well.

More than 8000 retailers already accept contactless payments including many outlets of Pret A Manger, Coffee Republic, EAT, Books etc, Krispy Kreme, Threshers and thousands of independent retailers, with more installing the technology every week.

Barclaycard was the first to introduce contactless technology on credit cards in the UK in September 2007 with the launch of Barclaycard OnePulse, the three in one oyster, credit and contactless card.